Survey Shows Resales Getting More Affordable

Homes apparently are getting more affordable -- especially in the resale market.

The National Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index for resale homes rose to 94.8 in August, the highest level in more than six years.

That, of course, is good news for home buyers.

The 1.8 percentage point July-to-August improvement in the index was the third consecutive monthly increase and the largest since December 1979, when a 2.1 percentage point increase occurred.

``The August index was the highest since April 1079, when it stood at 95,`` noted association president David D. Roberts.

``Recent improvements in the index, especially the August rise, clearly illustrate the positive impact of lower interest rates,`` Roberts said. ``The interest rate used to calculate the index fell to 11.33 per cent in August, the lowest level since October 1979, when it was 11.28 per cent,`` he said.

That rate is the average effective interest rate on loans closed by major lenders on previously occupied (existing) homes as reported by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. Those loans include both fixed rate mortgages and adjustable rate mortgages.

Other happenings:

South Florida builder Sandy Miot was installed as president of the Florida Home Builders Association last weekend during FHBA`s 37th annual convention, held at Fort Lauderdale`s Marriott Harbor Beach Hotel. U.S. Sen. Paula Hawkins was on hand to install Miot, who is president of Arvida Southern, which is presently developing the 10,000-acre Weston development in West Broward. Miot succeeded Jacksonville builder Bill Soforenko as FHBA president.

There is a new face on the players` roster of the 1985 Quadel $200,000 Seniors Golf Classic, to be held at Boca Grove Plantation in November, and it isn`t that of a golf pro. John Brodie, a former all-pro quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and more recently an NBC sports announcer, will be participating.

Timothy D. Cross, president of Syndicon Properties, Inc., has been elected the new president of the Pompano Beach-North Broward Board of Realtors. Other officers chosen were Robert Tenace, president of Century 21 Tenace Realty, Inc., vice president; Marie Bracht of L. C. Judd & Co., Inc., secretary; Joanna W. Youngblood, manager of Merrill Lynch Realty, Lighthouse Point, treasurer, and Earl C. Catron and Michael A. Mazur, directors. Installation of the officers is set for January.

Villager Townhomes and Villas, at 4700 NW Ninth Ave. in Pompano Beach, has only a few homes remaining for sale, and the community is expected to be sold out this fall. A venture of the Waldman Corporation, the 108-home community features residences priced from the $60,000s.

Eight homes have been sold in a month at Boca Lake, a 92-home single-family community being developed by Mel Green and Al Kroll of Boca Lakes Realty, Inc., off St. Andrews Boulevard north of Glades Road in Boca Raton. That`s good when one considers that homes in the development are in the $170,000s.

Who says oceanfront condos don`t do well in sales during the summer? At Pompano`s oceanfront Criterion, just four residences remain after more than $2 million in sales were recorded late in the summer.

Moving vans are traveling shorter distances these days. A recent survey shows that the majority of people on the move settle less than 200 miles away, says the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Service. In addition, the survey showed that families are not moving often. Less than one quarter of respondents to the survey moved within the last three years. Of those, nearly 70 per cent moved less than 200 miles. This contrasts with 6 per cent who moved between 751 to 1,000 miles and 14 per cent who moved more than 1,000 miles.